View full sizeJean Elster is author of The Colored Car. She will visit Muskegon County schools and libraries April 25-26. Courtesy photo

MUSKEGON, MI – Sad segregation-era history will be remembered during the visit of Detroit author Jean Alicia Elster this weekend.

Elster, author of the award-winning children’s book "The Colored Car," will visit will visit several schools and libraries in Muskegon County Friday and Saturday, April 25 and 26.

"The Colored Car" is winner of a 2014 Michigan Notable Book Award. The book, set in Detroit in the 1930s, follows the coming-of-age experience of a 12-year-old African-American girl as she becomes aware of the reality of segregation during a train trip to visit her mother’s relatives in the South. Through Patsy’s eyes, we experience the personal impact of segregation and discrimination in a powerful and personal way.

Doris Rucks

It’s a book Muskegon resident Doris Rucks, age 90, has looked forward to.

“I was born in New York, but went to college in Virginia,” she said. On the train between New York and Virginia, she was never asked to switch cars – African Americans organized themselves into a single car at the start of the journey to avoid a confrontation.

“When you get on in New York, as I did, or the Pennsylvania station ... You just knew it was coming,” Rucks said.

The nonprofit Rucks founded in 2004, the Muskegon Coalition for Community Development, is sponsoring Elster’s visit, along with Muskegon Area District Library, Reeths-Puffer Middle School, The Bookman of Grand Haven, Spring Lake District Library and the Friends of Muskegon Heights Library.

“We are hoping, the coalition is hoping, to expose the community to some of the historical riches of African-American history,” Rucks said.

“The Rosa Parks story is really part of this whole thing,” she continued. “It’s the same theme -- except that this is a train ride; hers was a bus ride.”

Rucks said she hopes Elster is also a good role model for the children who attend.

Formerly an attorney, Elster is also the author of "Who’s Jim Hines," which was chosen as a Michigan Notable Book in 2009 and the children’s series "Joe Joe in the City" published by Judson Press.

Here is the schedule for Elster’s visit:

10 a.m. Friday, April 25 - 6th graders from Spring Lake Public Schools at Spring Lake District Library (not open to the public)

1:30 p.m. Friday April 25 - Reeths-Puffer Middle School, all students (not open to the public)